


Thank You

by bell (bellaboo), bellaboo, usomitai (bellaboo)



Category: Princess Tutu
Genre: Drabble, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-07-07
Updated: 2006-07-07
Packaged: 2017-10-02 02:31:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellaboo/pseuds/bell, https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellaboo/pseuds/bellaboo, https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellaboo/pseuds/usomitai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three Princess Tutu drabbles in one place! Two are Ahiru/Rue, one features Mytho and Fakir.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thank You

"Thank you."

Over the past few weeks Fakir had witnessed Mytho say and do many unusual things, but this topped them all. "Excuse me?"

"I said, thank you. Thank you, Fakir."

A million questions burst into Fakir's mind. One at a time. "Since when do you know 'gratitude'?"

"I don't. Not really. But I heard people everywhere always saying "thanks," and things like that. Then Ahiru said it to me yesterday for something, I still don't know why, so I looked it up in the dictionary. It said something about 'gratitude,' which didn't make any sense to me either, so I looked that up next. I didn't get that either, since it was "to appreciate," and what's to appreciate? I kept going back and forth in the dictionary and I still don't get precisely what they mean, but I get the sense that it's what you say after someone does something nice for you. So, thank you, Fakir. You've been doing nice things for me as long as I can remember."

A bit choked up, Fakir looked away. "Idiot."

Mytho smiled. "You're welcome."

*

Rue hears it all the time: you dance so well, I wish I could dance like you, how can I dance like you?

In ballet, when dancing, you must at all times wear a light smile, as if springing about your toes were the best thing to do in the world, as if you didn’t have to beat your feet into obeying your mind’s impossible demands. As if you weren’t staying upright through sheer will alone. Rue’s life is ballet, and so Rue always wears this smile. “If you practice, you’ll get better,” she promises whatever underclassman it is that day that has gathered up the courage to her.

But Rue knows that it’s more than practice, you’ve got to have the talent. The possibility of shining must exist within you already if you ever want to be a star. Otherwise, you’re just fooling yourself and hurting the rest of the world with your pretensions. Take that Ahiru girl, for example, she’s a disaster on two feet. Rue feels offended by her, by the fact that someone that awful could dare dream of doing ballet; that Ahiru would insult the school’s floors by dancing on them. She has no rhythm, no coordination, no appreciation of music, no discipline.

What she does have, more than any person Rue has ever known, is brightness. It is possible that this optimism is a symptom of her idiocy, and it definitely resulted in her trying to pursue this impossible dream, of being a ballerina. And it is what keeps Rue watching her, from the corner of her eye, conspicuously. The dancing itself is horrid, but the energy behind it is anything but.

Rue wishes she had that, that innate glow. She does not, however, and so she must pretend that she does. And she practices, hour after hour after hour, to make up for her lack.

*

“You’re so skinny,” Rue says in disbelief.

“What about you?!!” Ahiru asks back. “Let’s see—one, two, three, four,” her finger slipping down as she counted Rue's ribs. It was slightly ticklish, but only slightly, and Rue held back the giggles. She doesn’t giggle. She doesn’t laugh. Ahiru could do that for her.

“I’m skinny, but you’re tiny.”

“Yes, but I think I’ve got bigger boobs, look,” Ahiru felt up Rue’s breast with her right hand, and her own with the left. “Yup, definitely. See for yourself.” Ahiru tried to get Rue to do the comparison for herself, but she refused, swatting Ahiru’s hands away.

“I most certainly will not,” Rue said haughtily.

Ahiru laughed, all her big round white teeth exposed for a second. “I can’t believe you’re still embarrassed. C’mon,” and tried to coach her by kissing collarbone, “we’ve already come this far.”

“Having sex and comparing sizes are two different things!”

“How, exactly?” Ahiru blinked.


End file.
